thenearshore | [Closed] I woke up from the same dream

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[Closed] I woke up from the same dream

Who: Ginia and Zhao Yunlan
When: February 2nd
Where: Ebisu's temple
What: That awkward moment you find out your new coworker is also someone whose happy dream you ruined. Oops.

It's been two days, but the strange trip through dreamscapes simultaneously feels like it was weeks ago and only last night. She's committed everything she can remember to notes, read over them all the nights since to remind herself of what she owes and what she now knows, but the feeling she's frogotten something haunts her.

Isn't that how dreams go though? Fragments of images and splashes of moments fuzzy at best and suspended like glitter in oil? Look, but don't you dare touch lest up upend things and create a mess. So life as a shinki goes.

At least there's work to focus on and throw herself into. The never-ending churn of work at Ebisu's temple is a punishing wave to anyone who isn't prepared, but she's learning how to swim (or at least stay afloat).

With a folder in hand and a tablet in the other, Ginia paces in the break room as she waits for her tea to finish steeping. She reads as she walks, reading over her current assignment and familiarizing herself with all the terminology and info. With her head down and attention largely focused on her work, she's starts when she collides solidly with someone.

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"Whoa! Shit--" Zhao's just lucky that she was holding papers, and not tea, because it means that his cheap collared shirt remains un-ruined.

(And he hasn't actually had the money to spend on a business wardrobe yet.)

He looks up, already laughing at the mishap, and rocks back on his heels as he realizes just who it was who'd walked right into him at the break room door.

"-- Ginia? I didn't know you worked here too."

It's only paper and not tea and while a flurry of papers slide to the floor, though her grip on her tablet is iron-tight. Her apologetic bowing is disrupted as Ginia recognizes the voice and person she's walked into, brain stuttering to a halt as her perceived expectation and reality fail to align.

Her surprises passes a few seconds later. In comparison to his clothes, she's dressed in an incredibly well-tailored suit that matches the rest of the business temple. Identically, even. Strange that. Ginia smiles and hurriedly scoops up her dropped papers, places them back in the folder, and drops it on the counter.

"I'm just as surprised as you," she types on her tablet, showing him the message. "When did you begin?"

Edited 2018-10-09 00:29 (UTC)

Zhao glances at the tablet, and replies, "A few days back. I'm just doing some part-time stuff. Accounting for now."

He grins, cheerfully, and adds, "Apparently I'm good with numbers -- who knew?"

Her clothes are Ebisu's uniform, no question about that. So, he thinks. She's got to be one of the shinki Ebisu's actually named; it's not something he'd gone for, not with the responsibility he feels to Bakugou, who'd be on his own if Zhao jumped ship, and who hasn't done anything to deserve that yet.

No shame in being a nora, of course. But, to Zhao, it does say something about the state of things in your first household.

His eyebrows pinch faintly as he looks up at her face. There'd been something else he remembered, hadn't there? Something he'd wanted to say, that's gone all vague now, like the memories of a --

-- dream. Right. Yes.

"You know," he adds, making his tone light and teasing, "I'm pretty sure I dreamed about you the other day..."

The joy of being a shinki; discovering all sorts of things about yourself. She smiles, gives a good-natured laugh and tries not to dwell on the fact she saw him as he was in a dream. She never figured out what he did specifically, but some kind of manager or department head at least. So it's not a surprise he's good with numbers.

But part-time, good to know. While Ginia is aware her attire points fairly obviously to things, unless it comes up, she's not going to mention it. It's no deep secret, but it's not something she wants to draw attention to. Good to know she'll see him around.

When he brings the dream up, Ginia laughs again, plays things off with a light roll of her eyes as it's just a funny joke or an attempt at flirting as dread opens up in her stomach.

"Was it a good dream?"

"There was a party, so it sure was." He'd come in here for tea; the mug he'd brought, dollar-store gray with seasonal plum blossoms, turns out to be halfway back in the cupboard, and he gets it down as he continues.

"But, funny thing, even though it was a party, I remember you were upset about something." He measures out some oolong, and glances back at her, eyebrows quirking up. "Strange dream, huh?'

Ginia keeps her expression level as she listens, giving him her genuine attention and hoping she doesn't come off as seeming disinterested. It's a little disheartening to realize he didn't remember anything after all, but wasn't it expected.

She can remember the room, the smell of the food, the people gathered around the table. Chu Shuzi, Zhu Hong, Lin Jeng, Guo Changcheng, Old Li, Shen Wei, secrets she'll carry for the rest of her life if he never remembers any more. It's not fair.

"Dreams are weird, aren't they. I had a dream I was washing dogs in an abandoned mall."

What the hell, Chikusa.

"I think your weird dream beats mine," Zhao concedes easily. Funny, though; she's not reacting, but she's keeping her gaze fixed on him with such a sincere lack of reaction that it looks downright intentional. He wonders if she remembers the party dream, too.

He wonders if she remembers why she was upset.

"Though I had this one about giant robots, too. That was a weird few days, let me tell you."

Giant robots? That one gets more of a reaction, a small, surprised huff before it settles back into awkwardness. It's rude and awkward, but what is there to say? She knows the dream all too well, knows spilling anything about the details could potentially spiral him into becoming an ayakashi. So maybe it's better if they avoid each other entirely (avoiding people, that she's good at).

But it's not fair. He didn't ask to become a shinki any more than her, in the most idea situation he'd still have his memories and this wouldn't be a problem. What would avoiding him accomplish in the long-run?

Besides, she offered something else too.

"I should get back to work, but do you want to get drinks sometime? Or food or something?"

"Sounds good to me. I should get back to my spreadsheet too-- when do you get off tonight?" He flashes her a grin. She still looks uncomfortable; there's no question she remembers more about that dream than he does, but if she's not telling, he's not asking.

Anyway, there's something that bothers him about the idea of asking questions about the dream. What it is he couldn't say, but he trusts his instincts.

What time does she stop working? There's a slightly blank expression as Ginia tries to remember her self-imposed work schedule versus when people normally stop working. The other shinki temple do well to make sure she takes breaks, but there's no saving her from herself sometimes.

"Around 6? I can meet you in the lobby or elsewhere if you'd prefer."

"I should be done around then myself," Zhao agrees. "See you in the lobby? I know this decent dinner place on the Near Shore, with cheap drinks that don't suck."

And a computerized ordering system, which Zhao has immediately become a fan of after two or three experiences trying to keep the attention of human servers.

"See you in the lobby then."

Ginia smiles and bows her head at him, marching out the break room, only to turn around less than a minute later to retrieve the folder she left on the counter. It's not until she's back at her desk does she realize she forgot about her tea.

Sigh.

Ginia works through the rest of the day, her forgotten mug of tea eventually reclaimed and reheated. Among gentle ribbing from her coworkers, she leaves with enough time to change. The suit is nice, but jeans, boots, a ruffled t-shirt, and a leather jacket is more her usual style. Her knife also occupies its usual spot at her back along with a flask of holy water, her must-haves when heading to the Near.

It's five til six when she heads back into the lobby looking for Zhao.

Zhao isn't in the lobby at five until six; he's upstairs, swearing at a spreadsheet he swears had been working obediently until just when he was about to save it and head home. Fucking computers, they know their moment -- so it's a minute or two late when he throws on his jacket and bolts downstairs, ignoring the slightly envious glances he's getting from some of the other shinki.

He's part-time. He gets out before dinner.

He slows from a headlong dash to an easier jog as he spots Ginia standing there, waving at her.

"Hey! Sorry I'm late, I got caught up. Hope you weren't waiting long?"

The delay gives Ginia a few minutes to check up on the network and the greater internet at large. There's more people to check on when she has a moment and she's frowning a little at her phone, but she masks it with a smile when she looks up at Zhao, returning the wave.

"No, you're fine, I got here a few minutes ago." She types and plays on her phone so he doesn't need to crane to read her messages. "Busy, I take it?"

Who is she kidding, it's always busy.

"Yeah, you probably know how it is," Zhao laughs, spreading his hands in a shrug. "I'm lucky I got out this close to on time."

And that's just because he's a part-timer and willing to leave work for later. Ebisu's shinki have the look, one and all, of people putting in eighty-hour weeks.

"So," he adds, "what kind of food do you like?"

Can't die of exhaustion if you're already dead? After this, Ginia plans on swinging back for a late (or late-late night, who knows) shift. There's nothing better to do anyway.

"Just about everything, honestly. I'm sure I'll find something I like at the place you mentioned."

"Well, in that case, off we go!" Zhao glances around with a thoughtful frown, and then looks back at Ginia. "So-- does Ebisu mind if we use his place to go to the Near Shore?"

He's got a few more shrines scattered around than Mars does, after all.

He won't mind at all.

Especially since she's traveling along. The large amount of shrines is a nice boon, especially for getting to other parts of Japan. However, with so many shrines, landing around the right area is important too.

A quick check later to see which is the closest shrine to the location and they're off to the the Near Shore.

"Oh, hello, Jitsumi." The miko - one of Ebisu's shinki - greets after they teleport in. "Who is your friend?"

"Kasumi, this is Zhao Yunlan, one of the part-timers."

"I see." There's a knowing look indicating Ginia better be ready to spill info later as she looks at Zhao. "Where are you two going?"

"Nice to meet you, Kasumi," Zhao says with an easy grin, waving a hand towards the street behind them. "I'm just showing Ginia an izakaya I found the other day, to celebrate finding out we're coworkers."

Spotting that knowing look, he adds, "See, buttering up my superiors is an important part of the corporate lifestyle."

And winks.

Despite beings centuries old, Kasumi is young at heart. At Zhao's words and wink, her face flushes pink. She stifles a tiny squeal by clapping her hands to her mouth, looking between the two. "Have fun!" she squeaks out, rushing off to furiously text back to the office.

Ginia rolls her eyes at everything, hiding a tiny smile with a shake of her head. Kasumi is perhaps a tiny bit exasperating, but her enthusiasm is appreciated.

"Good job. You've given away your motives and started up the rumor mill."

Zhao laughs, clapping a hand on Ginia's shoulder as he turns to head out of the shrine onto the street. "Aw, come on. The rumor mill would be going no matter what I said."

Besides, why not keep Kasumi (and all their other co-workers, of course) entertained? Without office gossip, the life of a shinki of Ebisu would truly be too difficult to bear.

The shrine is only a few blocks from the spot he'd mentioned, he notes, glancing up at the signs at the intersection. Convenient, that, Ginia must have memorized them all. Zhao is still working on it.

He's not wrong about that. Ginia knows her very first appearance at Ebisu's temple set off the rumor mill and the gossip has only intensified ever since she joined the temple. At least from what she's heard, it's all positive and largely everyone is glad for additional help. So if they want to speculate on her possible romantic life, oh well. If it makes them happy, it's fine.

"How's life in the Near and Far treating you?" Small talk is definitely not her forte, but she can walk and type with the best of them as she follows Zhao.

"Not so bad, so far," he says, matching her pace; she's got to type, and he doesn't want to go too fast for her. It doesn't seem to be slowing her down too much, though.

"I've been checking out the forums," he adds, "and kicking around the Shores. I don't know too much about this city, so there's a lot to learn."

That, he accompanies with a wave around the Tokyo street.

"If you need suggestions, feel free to ask. Part of my job." Between her own exploration and working with the tourism department, she's built up a list of places to visit. A pity she lacks the time to actually check them out these days.

"Everything going okay with your god?"

"You know, it really is," Zhao admits, smile broadening with a bit of fondness. "He's a brat, but a brat with a good heart, you know? Once he gets a bit older and calms down, he'll be a good guy."

And in the meantime, while Zhao Yunlan is not exactly the world's expert at dealing with difficult and prickly teenagers, they're managing.

It helps that he's discovered Bakugou actually knows how to cook. Takeout had been threatening to get expensive.

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